subject: Get Creative With Your Scrapbooking [print this page] To start off with, I just want to put in a little disclaimer, *I am not a scrapbooker.* Wait, don't stop reading! Don't be fooled, just because I don't enjoy traditional scrapbooking, doesn't mean that I am against the craft altogether. I just prefer more, shall we say, creative ways to scrapbook? Innovative, ingenious, original, you get the idea.
The number one thing that can help set your scrapbooking and crafting apart from every other scrapbooker in your neighborhood is this: Make it your own. Don't try to emulate someone else's style, don't look at something someone else has done and make an exact replica. What's the point in that? Scrapbooking is a simple way to tap into your inner artist and be creative! You are not just mommy, or housecleaner, or cook during those moments, you are an artist, so be artistic. That being said, let's talk about some ways to change your scrapbooking from a formula "color by number" craft into a work of art.
Now that you are thinking like an artist, let's talk about what medium you prefer to use. Obviously, scrapbooking is mostly paper based. However, there are a number of other materials that can be used to help accentuate and embellish your basic scrapbooking page, and many of those things don't need to be purchased, they are just lying around your house. Things like fabric scraps or designs cut out of old clothing, dried flowers or leaves, twist ties from garbage bags, cleaned off metal lids from frozen juice cans or soup cans, hair ribbons or bows that have come off of the barrette, even small pieces of broken toys. Look around your house at what is already there and reuse it, or parts of it.
Once you have exhausted all of the possibilities of things you can use from your house, you can still think outside the box. Even if you are not ready to tackle a home improvement store for raw materials to work with, there are still a lot of things at the craft store that can be used creatively. For instance, you can buy chipboard from your local scrapbooking store. Chipboard is a composite of recycled paper stock and, sometimes, wood chips, that can be used in a variety of ways in scrapbooking. You can get it plain, pre-decorated, or even embossed. Personally, as an artist, I recommend going with plain and doing your own designs on it, but, that's just me.
After you have gathered your creative supplies around you, then get scrapbooking! Just remember, don't let your inner artist down. Keep thinking creatively. Just because you haven't seen someone else do it, doesn't mean that you can't! Be a trend-setter. I dare you.
